CH. 2

36 Hours Earlier

"I can't tell you how much what you're doing means to me…my whole life will be over if you don't get my son back to me…"

"We understand ma'am. We're going to do the best we can. All we need from you is to stay calm through all of this…" Hannibal reassured her with a hand on her shoulder.

Just then Face and Murdock came through the door.

"Did you get them?" Hannibal asked.

"Did I get them? Who you talking to? Of course I did…" Face replied with a scoff.

"How could he not be successful with me accompanying him." Murdock said making his way over to the lady. He took of his hat. "Ma'am." He nodded.

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Diane."

Murdock tipped his hat. "The pleasure is all mine darlin'"

"Will you stop acting like you're a cowboy you crazy fool!"

"Excuse me sir, but you might want to think twice about who you're talking to!" Murdock replied, now standing toe to toe with BA.

"Boys, boys, get it together." Hannibal rolled out the plans. "Alright…here's how its gonna go…BA, you and Murdock take Diane to the pier down 5th street where they want her to bring the money…Me and Face will tackle the apt. building to find the kid….her husbands old apartment was room 14, so that's our best bet…here's how we're gonna do it…"

Each of them pondered their assignments, and Hannibal filled Diane in that evening.

"Alright boys, get some sleep, gonna be a long day tomorrow…"

Next Morning

APT BUILDING

"Alright Face, Let's Move."

"Uh Colonel…let me guess…front door?"

"Lt. Its an APT Building, what else could we do? Go up the fire escape?"

"Right, why we would do that…that's dangerous…this is just insane…" He followed Hannibal up the stairs.

They came up to Room 14.

"Knock Lt." Hannibal directed.

"And say what?"

"You'll think of something…" He replied with a grin.

Face knocked but got no answer, he took out his lock picks and opened the door, and neither expected what the saw when they walked in.

PIER

Three men approached Diane slowly, keeping an eye out for any help she may have brought along.

She handed them the briefcase. "Here's all of it…now where's my boy? Where's Danny? You said you would bring him with you".

"Thank you very much…your boy is waiting for you at the 5th Street APT Building Room 14. Feel free to pick him up at your earliest convenience."

"Wait, how can I trust you that's he is there?"

"How could you not trust these faces?"

"Please, what about my husband?"

"Ah, I wouldn't worry about him, he has new business interests now, and he doesn't need you and your boy…now it was nice doing business with you…" They started to walk away, and Diane walked away in the opposite direction.

She got into the Van and Murdock called Hannibal.

"He's not answering, they must be in the apartment…but if they were they would have found him and they would have called us?"

"Let's go!" BA replied, hitting the gas quickly.

APT

Right in front of them was a bomb device like neither had seen before. They didn't see a timer.

"We have to evacuate the building Lt., who knows when they'll detonate it… Let's go."

"What about the Kid? What if he's here?"

"They said they would bring him to the drop…lets hope they are good little thieves."

Both of them started knocking on doors and sending people out. As the crowd stood a distance from the building, BA pulled up.

"Hannibal. You two alright?"

"Yeah we're fine…" He glanced into the back seat. "Danny isn't with you?"

"No! That's why we tried calling you…they said he was in the building…room 402…"

Face and Hannibal looked at each other. "Listen, there's a bomb in that room, we didn't see a timer, so we're not sure if it's on a detonator or not…we can't take any chances on going in…"

"You have to…my Danny…you have to take the chance…please get my boy…" She jumped out of the van, now staring right into Hannibal's eyes.

"Diane…I can't risk my team…it could explode any minute…I'm sorry but I can't take the risk…"

She fell into a bit of tears and Hannibal tried to console her but she pushed him away.

The team sat silently, looking at their Colonel for guidance. Part of them wanted to run into the building and get Danny, the other part wanted to wait for an order from their leader.

"Listen guys, news will be here soon, get the Van out of sight."

"You coming Hannibal?"

"I'll be around in a minute. Just get out of here."

The three glared back at their friend with a worried look. "If you men don't leave here, Decker will see us all over the TV, and be here quicker than you can say Court Marshall, now move!" He almost yelled the last words, and with that Face got into the Van and drove away. Needless to say the helicopters above had already broadcasted their Van near the building.

Hannibal saw that his team was out of sight, and knelt down next to Diane who was sitting at a nearby bench.

"Diane…" He began.

Suddenly she turned to him and smacked him across the face. "You said you would do your best…your team didn't do a thing but let my son die…I gave them the money…you said you would have my son...just get out of my face…you're just liars…" She put her head down and heard no reply. When she looked up Hannibal was gone.